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NCRI WOMEN'S COMMITTEE

Works extensively with Iranian women outside the country and maintains a permanent contact with women inside Iran. The Women’s Committee is actively involved with many women's rights organizations and NGO's and the Iranian diaspora. The committee is a major source of much of the information received from inside Iran with regards to women. Attending UN Human Rights Commission meetings and other international or regional conferences on women’s issues, and engaging in a relentless battle against the Iranian regime's misogyny are part of the activities of members and associates of the committee.

Ashraf Sadat Ahmadi

Ashraf Sadat Ahmadi

Birth Place: Tehran

Education: High School Diploma

Age: 47

Place of martyrdom: Tehran

Year: 1988

Ashraf Ahmadi was born in Tehran in 1941 and finished her high school education there. She was the mother of four. Her daughter Maryam was born in prison under the Shah's regime and she was also imprisoned during Khomeini’s reign, when she had a newborn son.

Ashraf started her political activities against the Shah's regime in 1971. She would visit her imprisoned brother, a PMOI member, and help exchange news. She also participated in sit-ins and demonstrations organized by the families of political prisoners. Ashraf chose her path for freedom despite having a family and children. Fatemeh Amini, the first female PMOI martyr, had great influence on Ashraf and helped her learn about the PMOI and love its freedom-loving goals.

Ashraf was arrested in 1975 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Since she supported the Mojahedin and was in contact with them, Ashraf was subjected to severe tortures despite suffering from a heart disease but she was strong under torture and became a symbol of resistance among her cellmates.

After the 1979 Revolution and freedom from prison, she stepped up her activities with the PMOI. So, she was arrested again in 1981 with her newborn son. Ashraf spent 7 years in prison and was executed at the age of 47 on July 31, 1988 in the wave of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners by the clerical regime.

Ashraf's cellmates have recounted many memories from her.

"She smiled often and would spread hope and kindness to those around her. Other prisoners knew her as a rock who was dependable in any situation. Ashraf tried to keep the fire of resistance alive against all the difficulties."

“…Ashraf was our source of hope and our experienced guide in prison. In addition to her heart disease, she had contracted kidney disease in prison, but she would still defy the torturers. Ashraf would go and visit prisoners who were being taken for execution. No one knows what she told them, but they were all calmer and happier after talking to Ashraf.”

“...One day Lajevardi (the butcher of Evin prison at the time) told Ashraf that she had to give away her baby son. That night, the Revolutionary Guards attacked the ward and tried to take away Ashraf’s son. They were pushing the baby out of his mother’s arms, while the baby was crying and asking for his mom. It was a harrowing scene as Ashraf was trying to hold on to her son. The guards eventually took the baby."

“…When I was in Qezel Hesar prison, I heard about a mother of four in Evin prison, with heart disease, who was a former political prisoner from Shah’s time. Her only crime was that she used the forbidden term, “Mojahedin”, in referring to the regime's opposition (whereas the regime uses the term hypocrite). Once she was called for interrogation. In reply to Lajevardi's question, she said that her name was Ashraf Ahmadi and she was a Mojahedin (PMOI) sympathizer. Lajevardi asked in objection, "Do you still call them 'Mojahedin'?" Ashraf replied “They were called by this name till I was arrested. If their name has changed afterwards, I have no knowledge!”

In 1987, when Ashraf was passing the final days of her prison sentence, her husband was killed in a car accident and her four children were left alone without anyone to take care of them. This was a very difficult situation for her, but it could not stop Ashraf from defending her humanitarian goals.

Finally, on July 31, 1988, Ashraf Ahmadi was hanged at the age of 47 in the massacre of 30,000 political prisoner, for defending her cause.

The revolutionary guards took Ashraf’s belongings to her mother’s house after three months and gave her the news of her daughter’s execution. Her place of burial was never disclosed to her family. One of Ashraf’s brothers was also executed during 1980s.